Entered as second-class matter, October 29, 1913, at the Post-office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of August 24, 1912 THIS NUMBER FIFTY CENTS COPYRIGHT 1917 BY THE NATIONAL CHILD LABOR PRESS OF CLARENCE S. NATHAN, INC., NEW YORK. TOUTO PAINTED 271 TRADES ON COUNCIL NEWS NOTES Shortly after America's entry into the war the members of the National Child Labor Committee were urged to do everything in their power to prevent child labor laws and WAR-TIME compulsory education laws from being suspended LEGISLATION or relaxed and other child welfare activities from being discontinued on the pretext of war necessity. If children were excused from school for agricultural work it was advised that only older children be excused and then only under careful regulation and supervision by the school authorities. In spite of the efforts of our members and many social organizations, several states succeeded in passing laws which would permit the suspension of labor or education laws. Connecticut and New Hampshire gave to the governor the power to suspend any of the labor laws during the present war at the request of the Council of National Defense. Vermont gave similar power to the Commissioner of Industries who, with the approval of the governor, may suspend the hours of labor laws. Massachusetts created a committee of five to be appointed by the State Board of Labor and Industries, with the approval of the governor, to grant permits for the suspension of labor laws after a hearing has been held. In California and New York the compulsory education laws were weakened. The State Board of Education in California was given the power to reduce the school term to six months, with the approval of the governor, when necessary "for the planting or harvesting of crops or for other agricultural or horticultural purposes.' In New York the Commissioner of Education was given the power to suspend the compulsory education law April 1 to November 1 during the war "for the purpose of aiding and performing labor in the cultivation, production and care of food products and gardens within the state," and authority was given him to prescribe the rules and regulations under which children could be excused. Although at one time it seemed as if the tendency to destroy laws was more pronounced than the tendency to strengthen them, nevertheless several states made good records in OTHER child welfare legislation. Four states, Connecticut, LEGISLATION Delaware, Maine, and Texas enacted mothers' pension laws for the first time. Ten other states, Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming amended pension laws already on the statute books. Delaware, Illinois, and Kansas improved their child labor laws, raising the educational requirements for work permits and otherwise strengthening the work permit provisions. Texas, Tennessee, and Vermont also improved their laws, the two latter making the state standards similar to the federal with an 8-hour day, no night work, a 14-year limit for factories, workshops, and canneries, and a 16-year limit for mines and quarries. North Carolina raised its compulsory education limit from 12 to 14 years and South Dakota raised its limit from 14 to 16 years. In the past legislative year two states, Minnesota and Missouri, took action on the recommendations of child welfare commissions A NEW CHILD which had been appointed to study the child welfare laws of the state. When a similar commission was proposed in Oklahoma the social workers of the state were unwilling to undertake the work because they did not know what the conditions were and felt that no official commission could become familiar with them. They believed it necessary to make a state-wide study of all conditions affecting children and the National Child Labor Committee, which was planning to make an investigation of the employment of children in agriculture, was asked to widen the scope of its study and undertake the more exhaustive survey. The inquiry conducted by the Committee included health conditions, recreation, schools, relief, labor, agriculture, juvenile courts and probation, child-caring in institutions, placing out, parentage and property rights, and administration. Reports on each of these subjects are now being prepared for use in Oklahoma and in condensed form will be published later in one volume. The method followed in Oklahoma is a new step in the development of children's |